George Beeby

Beeby was born in Alexandria, Sydney, the second son of English-born Edward Augustus Beeby, a book-keeper, and his wife Isabel, née Thompson. Beeby was educated at Crown Street Public School and entered the education department of N.S.W. on 3 July 1884 where he became a pupil teacher at Macdonald Town (Erskineville) Public School. Subsequently he was an accountant, and in 1900 qualified as a solicitor. He had become interested in the land taxation proposals of Henry George in 1890 and was prominent in the beginnings of the New South Wales Labor Party.[1][2] He stood as a Labor candidate at the 1894 election for Armidale, but finished 3rd with a margin of 188 votes (8.8%).[3]

Beeby worked as a journalist for a while and then began practising as a solicitor. The 1901 arbitration act brought him much business; it was stated in 1906 that his firm had been concerned in two hundred disputes. He stood as the Labour candidate at the 1904 election for Leichhardt, but again finished 3rd.[4] Beeby stood as a Labor candidate for Blayney at the by-election in January 1907 due to the resignation of W. P. (Paddy) Crick, but Beeby was defeated by 23 votes.[5]

Beeby won the seat of Blayney for the Labor Party at the 1907 election, and with William Holman was successful in considerably modifying the amending industrial disputes bill brought in by Charles Wade. When James McGowen formed the first New South Wales Labor ministry in October 1910, Beeby was appointed Minister of Public Instruction and Minister for Labour and Industry from 21 October 1910 until 10 September 1911. There was a re-shuffle following protests at legislation on land ownership and Beeby was appointed Secretary for Lands, adding the portfolio of Labour and Industry in November 1911. In December 1912 he resigned from the ministry, parliament and Labor party in protest at the power of the extra-parliamentary Labor Party executive.[2] He was re-elected for Blayney as an independent after a close fought by-election on 23 January 1913, with a margin of 136 votes (3.2%).[6] Prior to the 1913 state election, he created the National Progressive Party and ran a slate of 10 candidates. Only he polled over 10 percent of the vote, winning 19.5 percent in the seat of Waverley. His voters helped elected a Labor candidate in the second round. He subsequently announced that his party had failed and there was no room for a third party in New South Wales.[1][7]

Beeby had been called to the bar in 1911 and now worked up a successful practice as a barrister. When Holman formed his Nationalist ministry in November 1916 Beeby again was appointed Minister for Labour and Industry with a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council. In 1918 Beeby, who had in the meanwhile been elected to the assembly for Wagga Wagga, succeeded in passing an industrial arbitration amendment act though it was strongly opposed by the Labour party. Towards the end of 1918 he visited Britain and the United States and, shortly after his return in June 1919, resigned from the government as a protest against administrative acts in connexion with the sale of wheat and the allotting of coal contracts. He joined the Progressive Party in 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation and was elected as the member for Murray,[7] with the party winning 15 seats.[8]

Beeby walking in Sydney in 1927

In August 1920, Beeby resigned from parliament to be appointed a judge of the New South Wales arbitration court.[9] In 1926 he became a member of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration bench.[1] In the same year Beeby imposed an award favourable to the Federal Government's industrial policy which the Waterside Workers' Federation rejected. This resulted in strike action and later violence.[10] Beeby was appointed chief judge in March 1939 and was knighted in the same year.[1]

Beeby retired in 1941 and died on 18 July 1942.[11] He married in 1892 and was survived by his wife, a son and three daughters. One daughter, Doris Isobel Beeby (1894–1948), was a communist party member and sought higher women's wages.[2] His son, Edward Augustus (1892–1984), was (among other things) a musician and playwright. Edward opened the Patch Theatre Company in Perth WA in 1939.[12]

Beeby was the author of Three Years of Industrial Arbitration in New South Wales (1906), a pamphlet; Concerning Ordinary People (1923), a volume of readable plays; In Quest of Pan (1924), a satire in verse on some of the Australian poets of the period; and A Loaded Legacy, a light novel which appeared in 1930.[1]

Additional sources listed by the Dictionary of Australian Biography:

• H. V. Evatt, Australian Labour Leader; Burke's War Gazette, 1940.

Additional sources listed by the Australian Dictionary of Biography:

• H. V. Evatt, Australian Labour Leader (Sydney, 1942)
• U. Ellis, The Country Party (Melbourne, 1958)
• B. Nairn, Civilising Capitalism (Canberra, 1973)
• G. S. Harman, 'G. S. Beeby and the first Labor electoral battle in Armidale', Labour History Bulletin (Canberra), 1 (1962), no 3
• A. Landa, 'The State industrial system', New South Wales Industrial Gazette, 109 (1953), no 3, supplement
• 'George S. Beeby and the new party', Lone Hand, 1 April 1913
• "The Blayney election". Australian Town and Country Journal. 16 January 1907. p. 37 – via Trove.
• "People we know: but especially politicians". Punch. 19 December 1912. p. 6 – via Trove.
• "People we know: many vicissitudes". Punch. 6 September 1917. p. 6 – via Trove.
• "Mr. Beeby wins". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 January 1913. p. 9 – via Trove.
• "Sir G. Beeby dead". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 July 1942. p. 7 – via Trove.
• "Prominent personalities: Mr Justice Beeby". Table Talk. 26 January 1928. p. 17 – via Trove.
• "Chief Judge Beeby - Maker Of miners' awards, playwright, novelist, hiker and bad chess player". Smith's Weekly. 10 August 1940. p. 8 – via Trove.
• Kate Baker papers (National Library of Australia)
• G. S. Beeby letters (State Library of Victoria)
• H. E. Boote papers (National Library of Australia)
• Carruthers correspondence (State Library of New South Wales); J. C. Watson papers (National Library of Australia).